MBB 2017-18

[NativeCheesehead]

I had a conversation yesterday with one of the leaders of the student section in the early aughts. He told me he had reached out several times to the student section "leaders" several times and offered to sit down with them. Nothing.

When the student section returns to its former glory, it won't be these guys leading it.

[valpopal]

The most irritating commentary by Happening Hoops is the whining about the team having a bad season and using that as the excuse for poor student turnout the last couple of years: "Since we have been a student here we have had: 1 NIT appearance as a 7 seed & a 1st round road loss. And a currently last place losing record." He is apparently a sophomore and to justify the weak student attendance the last two years, he also denigrates last year's team, which had a 24-9 record with an NBA draft pick. He also ignores this year's home record of 10-3, which is what home fans witness.


This year's team is 14-15 (10-3 at home), but those who are a senior at Valpo have been here during the three previous seasons of 24-9, 30-7, and 28-6 or a total of 82-22. The home records for those years were 48-4! Add this year's home record, and the four-year total goes to 58-7! Where have all those seniors been?


As I have said in the past, I have lost any patience with excuses from students for poor attendance.

[4throwfan]

Valpopal, there are no valid excuses for not coming.  They just aren't interested.

NativeCheesehead, "former glory" is not coming back.

Today's 18-22 year-old is not going to do what yesterday's 18-22 year-olds did.

Given that, the Athletic department should move on.  The debate should simply be: what does "move on" look like.

[M]

I don't know that they're a lost cause...but I don't know that they aren't a lost cause either.

I would imagine some discussion has happened or is happening with how to fill that area up.

[VU2014]

Coach Lottich calls out the students in his MVC media teleconference call this morning: https://soundcloud.com/mvcsports/matt-lottich-valparaiso-3

https://twitter.com/Valpo_Hoops/status/965724783106252801

[valpotx]

I would call them out too.  It is a disgrace, regardless of record.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/Lowell_Football/status/965774081684574208
https://twitter.com/SteveHanlon3/status/965770689872584706
https://twitter.com/SteveHanlon3/status/965774216233738241
https://twitter.com/bopat10/status/965780597896634368
https://twitter.com/ValpoAD/status/965771905541304325

[M]

I think he's right. The students are there and if they'd just sit in the designated section it'd be party time! In dD there were 25-30 of them the other night. They were loud and fun to be around. Can only imagine there were more scattered throughout the gym.

[VU2014]

A great article about the CR Sportsmanship Dinner where Coach Lottich was the keynote speaker.

https://twitter.com/nwi/status/965790702574632960

Valparaiso University's Matt Lottich opens doors to all of the Region
Steve Hanlon steve.hanlon@nwi.com, 219-933-4198
Feb 19, 2018

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/high-school/boys-basketball/valparaiso-university-s-matt-lottich-opens-doors-to-all-of/article_014c4ab0-9a1c-59e5-81d6-5132dd1d6562.html

[NativeCheesehead]

Also, if we put 4k+ in the building every night the only place the students would be able to sit is in the student section.

[VULB#62]

I seem to recall that some people said that Matt made a great speech, but I, for one, haven't heard exactly what he said to the guests.  Anybody have a summary or transcript or something?

A great article about the CR Sportsmanship Dinner where Coach Lottich was the keynote speaker.

https://twitter.com/nwi/status/965790702574632960

Valparaiso University's Matt Lottich opens doors to all of the Region
Steve Hanlon steve.hanlon@nwi.com, 219-933-4198
Feb 19, 2018

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/high-school/boys-basketball/valparaiso-university-s-matt-lottich-opens-doors-to-all-of/article_014c4ab0-9a1c-59e5-81d6-5132dd1d6562.html

[FWalum]

I seem to recall that some people said that Matt made a great speech, but I, for one, haven't heard exactly what he said to the guests.  Anybody have a summary or transcript or something?

I was wondering the same thing.  I expected that the speech would have been more about attitude, respect and sportsmanship (and probably how these things related to his faith without being overtly Christian), than as the article seemed to say, about making VU Northwest Indiana's Team.

[VU2014]

Coach made the front page of the NWI Times.

I'd love to hear the speech. A lot of people were buzzing about it on twitter and it made a great impression.

https://twitter.com/avankeppel/status/965929630636171265

[VU2014]

Also, if we put 4k+ in the building every night the only place the students would be able to sit is in the student section.

I the recent past there were times when the student section was overflowing and jam packed for some big games. The Butler games also drew the rowdiest student sections. I'm not on campus anymore so I don't know what campus culture is like.

I know this has been hammered on but the Greek Life support has fallen off a cliff and other sports teams aren't showing up the the games like they use to. I've seen some game where the Volleyball, women's soccer, and softball come as a group but the the other men's sports are MIA. Seriously what happened to the football team now that they aren't showing up to games anymore? The football players were some of the best hecklers when I went to school and they'd literally get in the opposing bench players head.

[VULB#62]

Where's Bat Cow?  T-Rex showing up much?

[VU2014]

Where's Bat Cow?  T-Rex showing up much?

V-Rex has been pretty consistent this season but Bat Cow has been noticeably MIA from games this season (it's tough miss him when he's there). Both are great Student Section staples.

[vu72]

I just took a look at season stats and discovered why we aren't doing so good.  We don't have Alec Peters and Shane Hammick any longer!  We lost 38 ppg.  With the loss of Joe, we had no chance to replace those numbers. 

We have gotten better and better results from Bakari and Marcus and that bodes will for the future.  But if you look at the performance of guys who were with us last year, this year has for the most part been a step backward.

Tevonn shot 29.0 from the 3 and 80.0 from the line.  This year? 27.1 and 76.6. Max has improved his 3 shooting but free throws are way off.  J's production has declined from 5.2ppg to 4.9 and rebounds have dropped from 4.4 pg to 3.3.  Hardly the improvement one would expect going from freshman year to sophomore year. Derrik has improved, doubling his scoring from 3.4 to 7.0 and adding one additional rebound per game.  Still, combined, J and Derrik are averaging 11.9 and 6.7 per game. The 6.7 boards is the same as last year.  No improvement at all.

We need fire power and I expect Ryan to bring that.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/966124407440773120

Ryan Fazekas ready to 'shoulder' load at Valparaiso after transfer season
Michael Osipoff
Post-Tribune
February 20, 2018

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-mens-basketball-valparaiso-ryan-fazekas-st-0220-20180219-story.html

[SanityLost17]

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22553502/fbi-probe-corruption-reveals-basketball-powers-broken-ncaa-rules

Would love to see 10-20 top teams suspended from the tournament next year or the year after.   

We are going to have 7 juniors next season as well as at least one immediate impact freshman, and the potential for McMillan to be highly improved.  Perhaps not a bad time to be on the experience upswing.     

[NativeCheesehead]

Nobody will get suspended. Unless a mid major is involved.

The NCAA is toothless with the big boys. It knows very well if it comes down on any of the P6s that they will literally take their ball(s) and start their our group.

[valpo64]

Did anyone notice that "The King" and his court got beat again last night by Green Bay.  What a disasterous seasion  for OU.  If Kampe couldn't win the HL with all of those seniors and the League's leading scorer, are his days numbered at OU?

[oklahomamick]

Did not see that.....I did see the spread.  OU -10. 

Kampe is missing Walker who I think is the team's MVP. 

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/967125031531810816

https://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-men/2018-02-23/mbk-bryce-drew-valparaiso-1998-ncaa-tournament-buzzer-beater?utm_content=bufferc25a9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

https://twitter.com/martinrickman/status/967125946590310400

THE SHOT HEARD 'ROUND MARCH
Martin Rickman

https://www.sbnation.com/longform/2013/3/19/4119040/march-madness-valparaiso-ole-miss-buzzer-beater-history

[VU2014]

Something I'm noticing on twitter among Valpo fans is that many think Coach Lottich doesn't "stand up for his guys" with the refs enough. I know we've talked about it a little on here but it's a little surprising how much I'm hearing it. I personally just don't think it's his style to yell at the ref. He's pretty calm on the sidelines when he talking with the refs, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have their backs.

It's pretty obvious that Coach Lottich is a pretty intense guy. He's just not a screamer on the sidelines in games. I think the guys know he has their back. He gets fired up for his guys when they make a big play.

Maybe Bryce was a little more emotional on the sidelines in showing his displeasure when there was a bad call but Bryce wasn't a yeller either. I just think Bryce had so much built up cache and love from the fan-base we didn't "knit pick" as much. He was also winning most of the time in his time here, so we didn't notice the little things I'm assuming. It's just been a tough season.

[VU2014]

No Coach Lottich teleconference today.

https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/968173278614446081